Digital News

Diabetes patients in the UK who already use Abbott’s FreeStyle LibreLink app can now connect the FreeStyle Libre glucose sensing technology to Novo Nordisk’s smart connected pens. This means patients can track information such as dose timings and amounts and compare the data to their individual glucose patterns.

Often diabetes patients are asked to track their insulin dose data, adding another level of context to their glucose readings for their healthcare professionals. This can be a time-consuming task when completed manually, and often leads to incomplete or inaccurate data. However, the new technology from Novo Nordisk and Abbott will allow the smart connected pens, NovoPen 6 or NovoPen Echo Plus, to link to a smartphone app, FreeStyle LibreLink, to automatically upload the data.

Su Down, nurse consultant in diabetes at Somerset Foundation Trust, said, “Individually, these two technologies provide valuable information for people managing their diabetes. Linked together however, they can provide an additional insight into the impact of both dosing and timing of injection on glucose levels. Providing people with diabetes and healthcare professionals with this insightful information offers an additional perspective, much like adding another piece to the puzzle – we see more of the overall picture, on which to base diabetes management decisions.”

It is also hoped that this technology will help to tackle the NHS backlog as data suggests they may help diabetes patients to reduce their risk of hyper- or hypoglycaemic events.

Pinder Sahota, general manager at Novo Nordisk UK, commented: “People living with diabetes can make up to 180 additional health-related decisions a day compared to people without diabetes – the constant multitasking can be emotionally and physically draining. I hope that bringing glucose and insulin data together in one place will make some of these decisions a little easier, giving people living with diabetes in the UK more time and energy back for day-to-day life.”